November 25: Let’s Talk Cutty Sark

On this day in 1869, the clipper ship Cutty Sark was launched from Scotland’s Dumbarton docks. It was one of the last clipper ships ever built and also one of the longest lived. You can visit it today. But now you’re thinking, “Hold on. Isn’t Cutty Sark also a blended scotch whisky? What’s the dealio?” The dealio is in 1923 two London wine executives decided during a boozy lunch that the time was ripe to launch a new whisky company. Why? Because of U.S. Prohibition. Their entire marketing strategy was to create a whisky with the sole purpose of bootlegging it into America, where their Yank cousins were dying for decent liquor. They chose the famous clipper ship for their Scotch’s name and logo and the rest is history. They were hugely successful with their bootlegging venture and once Prohibition ended, they’d built up so much name recognition that they just kept rolling. From funerals come flowers, as they say.